Genetic Engineering

• Genetic engineering involves changing the DNA in living organisms to create something new
• Organisms created through genetic engineering are called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
• Example: Bacteria that produce human insulin
• Genetically Modified Organisms are also known as transgenic organisms because genes are transferred from one organism to another
• Some genetic engineering techniques include:
• Artificial selection, which includes selective breeding, hybridization, and inbreeding
• Cloning
• Gene splicing
• Gel electrophoresis, used for analyzing DNA
• Artificial selection involves breeders choosing which organisms to mate to produce offspring with desired traits
• Three types of artificial selection: selective breeding, hybridization, inbreeding
• Selective breeding: mating animals with desired characteristics to pass important genes to the next generation
• Example: Champion racehorses, cows with tender meat, large juicy oranges on a tree
• Hybridization: crossing individuals with unlike characteristics to produce the best traits in both organisms
• Example: Luther Burbank creating a disease-resistant potato called the Burbank potato
• Inbreeding: breeding genetically similar organisms to maintain desired traits
• Cloning involves creating an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another
• Identical twins are naturally created clones
• Example: Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned
• Gene splicing is when DNA is cut out of one organism and put into another to transfer a trait
• Example: Human insulin gene can be removed from a human cell and put into a bacterial cell
• Gel electrophoresis is a technique used to compare DNA from two or more organisms
• It separates DNA fragments based on their size
• DNA moves due to its negative charge and the electricity applied
• Gel electrophoresis can be used to find genetic relationships, identify criminals, and determine paternity
• Recombinant DNA is created when DNA is combined from at least two organisms
• Techniques that create recombinant DNA include selective breeding, hybridization, gene splicing
• Cloning does not create organisms with recombinant DNA as it copies the DNA without recombining it
• Genetic engineering defined
• Processes involved in genetic engineering
• Outline of the processes involved in genetic engineering
• Discussion of the processes involved in genetic engineering
• Transgenic organism examples:

  • A bacterium that has received genes via conjugation
  • A human given human insulin from transgenic bacteria
  • A rat with rabbit hemoglobin genes
  • A human treated with blood clotting factors from bacteria
• New abilities in bacteria infected by bacteriophages likely result from:

  • Transformation
  • Natural selection
  • Conjugation
  • Transduction
• Terms related to genetic engineering:

  • Plasmid
  • Transduction
  • Conjugation
• Breeding process in developing different breeds of dogs and its impact on ancestral wolves and other wild animals
• People develop and get the best varieties of crops and animals by practicing artificial selection, where they select good qualities of organisms and mate them with other organisms to develop and gain the best quality of organisms
• Breeding process involves selecting good qualities of organisms and mating them with other organisms to develop and gain the best quality of organisms
• Breeding of animals and plant crops affects the lives of most people by improving the quality of domesticated plants and animals, leading to better quality organisms
• Modern processes used to improve the characteristics of one organism to the other involve genetic engineering, which aims to modify the genetic composition of an organism to possess desired traits or phenotypes